Love Unreturned
by L. L. Knight
Summary: Daphne relizes that what her boyfriend has to offer may not be what is important to her in a romantic relationship.
1. Exposition

Daphne sat in an easy chair flipping channels. One leg was up and the other crossed over it, swinging the foot just over the family room carpet. It was late Saturday afternoon and the tired sun began climbing down the sky. There was nothing on television and Daphne was bored out of her mind. If only Freddy would call…

It had been seven months since that joyful day when Freddy Wilbert had asked Daphne Robbins to their high school homecoming dance. The night marked the beginning of a giddy teen romance between the two long time pals. They did everything together and talked for hours on the phone. Their relationship had been going great, up until recently, that is.

She and Freddy hardly ever had fun together anymore. It seemed like all he did was work. On the rare occasion he wasn't serving popcorn or picking up trash at the local baseball park, they had a mystery to solve. Not that piecing together clues and catching criminals wasn't fun, but Daphne missed the times when Freddy and her got to be alone. Some of the most fun she ever had was with him. Freddy used to take her to the drive-in to see the latest picture or to the Malt Shop where they sate across from each other in the corner booth (for the most privacy). The best of their dates, though, were the night drives up to the hill right outside of town. There was something about the fresh spring air under the stars that made Daphne antsy to get physical with her oh-so-cute blonde-haired boyfriend. She enjoyed talking with him, like would do many times when he parked the car—other times they would just sit there in the peaceful quiet; Daphne liked these things and thought it was sweet when Freddy put his arm around her—but more often than not, the two would end up kissing.

Freddy was great with his tongue. Occasionally, Daphne would get lost in the moment and not notice when her boyfriend's hand crept up her shirt. To his disappointment, she would always stop him before he could touch her breast. Not that the redheaded sleuth did not like this sort of thing—she often found herself wanting to do much more than just make out with Freddy—Daphne simply wanted to save sexual activity for marriage, or at least until she was sure they were truly in love.

And that was another thing: did Freddy _really _care about her? They would trade "I love you"s over the phone and sometimes even while kissing, but Daphne never felt that he _did _love her. Freddy acted like he cared about her; he asked about her classes at school and discussed TV and music with her but the tone in his voice seemed less than interested at times.

"It's probably all in my head," she thought. There was no way that Freddy just liked her because she had a pretty face and good looking body. He loved her for who she was. Or did he?

It was April of their senior year; graduation was barely over a month away. As the end of high school approached, more questions about her relationship with Freddy began to swim around in Daphne's head. Will we stay together? What about when we start college? Will he meet another girl? Will he dump me for some one more interesting (or more willing to have sex)?

But Daphne didn't like to think about those things; having doubt about Freddy's level of desire to stay together scared her. "He loves me," she reassured herself.

Just then, the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Daph." It was Freddy. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing important," she replied getting up to turn down the volume on the TV then sat back down.

"Ok, cool because we just got a new lead on this old museum out in Oakfield. The owners claim they have been having trouble with ghosts. Are you gonna come?"

"Sure, I'll meet you guys down at Velma's in a few."

"K, see you there," Freddy said quickly before she could respond. The low drone of the dial tone sounded so empty.

"Bye, baby," Daphne answered into a phone with no one on the other end.

Daphne got up and switched off the TV. Surely the reason Freddy didn't say a very warm goodbye was because he could not wait to get started on the mystery. She slipped on her shoes and headed out the door.


	2. Concerned Friends, Startling Thoughts

Velma stood on her front porch waiting for her friends to arrive. Daphne lived really close, only a block away, and Shaggy a couple streets over. Naturally, it took him longer to walk her house. Freddy, on the other hand, lived in a different neighborhood and it took him about ten minutes to arrive in the Mystery Machine. So as it went, Velma wouldn't have to wait long until Daphne came trotting down the sidewalk and over into her driveway. But the first person to appear at the gang's unofficial meeting place was Shaggy.

"Hey Velma," he said

"Shaggy, how did you get here so fast? And before Daphne?" Shaggy was breathing heavy and stopped in the middle of the driveway to bend over with his hands on his knees.

"I… ran. I didn't think I _would _get here before Daph but I'm… glad I did." He saw the confusion on Velma's face and continued after regaining his breath. "I wanted to talk to you—about her."

"Daphne? Why, is something wrong? You _ran_?" She was quit puzzled. The fact that Shaggy wanted to get over to her house so fast was odd in itself but even more strange was the reason he choose to. It was very unlike him to want to talk about anything. Usually all he was concerned with was shoveling food in his mouth and smoking pot then downing even more food in a vain effort to ease the munchies.

"Well, you see…" Shaggy started as he walked over to sit down on the front step. Velma took a seat next to him on the cement ledge. "I… Don't think Freddy is, like, very good for her."

Velma was glad some one finally said it. They all knew from the beginning that their pairing would not have a good result. Even Daphne. But she had managed to lie to herself for this long, and who knew how long this thing would draw out. The longer Freddy and Daphne continued to date, the more disastrous it would be in the end.

"You and everyone else." Velma answered. "It is apparent that he certainly does not care about her. But no one dares to say anything."

"Yeah, I know. I just hope they break up soon—it could get, like, really ugly." Shaggy had picked a blade of grass and was currently fiddling with it.

"I do not think there is much we can really do, though, Shaggy" She said hopelessly. "Daphne just has to realize what a doofus Freddy is on her own."

"Doofus?"

Velma couldn't believe she had just said that. She did not hold the highest opinion of their mystery solving team's self-proclaimed leader, but no one new her true feelings. And she intended on keeping it that way. Unluckily for her, some of her negative views toward had just slipped out. "I mean! Um…" Velma tried to recover.

"Don't worry; he gets on my nerves, too." Phew. Shaggy felt the same way, or at least a little bit.

Velma was relieved that Shaggy expressed similar feelings about Freddy and his relationship with Daphne. He could be such a jerk! The girl really did deserve better—she was such a nice gal. And so cute…

_Woah, wait. _Velma thought to herself. _You were not thinking that…_ The ideas that came into her head startled her; she had imagined what it would be like if _she _was dating Daphne. It was a weird concept but Velma decided to ignore it and try to forget about the fact that she desired to be romantically linked with another female.

A big, bright blue, green, and orange van turned around the corner. Freddy was here. He pulled into Velma's house and parked the Mystery Machine.

"Where's Daphne. She should be here by now." He said curtly upon getting out of the vehicle.

"Chill, Freddy" Shaggy said.

"Yes, I'm sure there is a logical explanation as to why she is not here yet," added Velma.

"Better be a good one." Freddy replied impatiently.

Yes, this arrogant and some times mean and rude guy was not a good match for Daphne. Hopefully, things would be resolved on their own. And soon.


End file.
